My Disco - National Hotel, 10/5/07

Geelong doesn't have much to its name musically. There's Brandon Burns, that guy who came somewhere in the top 40 of Australian Idol's first season. For a small time, Geelong was rife with fiery banners declaring 'Vote For Brandon' etc., but the public weren't really up for it, mainly because he couldn't sing for shit. And I think Magic Dirt are from around here, too. That's about it.

Last Thursday, however, Geelong was bestowed yet another musical accolade: My Disco played there, at the National Hotel, one of the last stops of their national tour. Their set was excellent, possibly even better than a Brandon / Adalita duet!

As Dylan said to me afterwards, in Melbourne there is a particular expectation from the punters regarding the band's performance - we take for granted the opportunity to see them, and since they've developed a particular performance aesthetic over their gig history, this is more or less expected of them (only white lights onstage, short sets, little movement, etc.). In regional Victoria, however, My Disco relaxed a little, even tolerating the schizophrenic lighting effects for the whole set.

The band talked inbetween songs, seemed genuinely happy, and even moved around a fair bit (Liam could be seen pushing up against the speakers and playing against the air vent). When I say relax, though, I don't mean to say their were lax, or meandering. No, they retained their characteristic deadly precision, but tonight were happy to carry experimental elements through the otherwise unaltered structure of their songs. Ben Andrew's guitar-work was particularly varied, even coming close to shredding at some points.

I went expecting maybe 10 people to show up, and to see a closed and concise set from the band. Instead the venue was almost at capacity (which still only means maybe 35-40 people, it's quite literally a shed out the back of the pub) and the band gave us their most free-flowing and yet still intensely charged show I've seen yet. It was brilliant, best I've ever seen them.

I'd been fretting over their new material after having heard it tested out in support of Deerhoof and at their show at East Brunswick Club, things seemed to be tightening to the point of exhaustion and I wondered whether My Disco had backed themselves into a corner. Turns out these new songs are only sans-lyrics for the time being, and if tonight was anything to go by, their next lot of material should resolve the tension between almost fascist precision and explosive force to the point where they'll perfect their singular sound.

My Disco - In Figures of Speech (from the Language of Numbers EP)